An NFT collection featuring Johnny Depp’s art has seen a price jump after the actor won a defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard yesterday.
At the time of writing, 3,850 “Never Fear Truth” NFTs have a minimum price of 0.517 ETH (approximately $944). Prior to the televised defamation trial, the collection had not seen much traction since its launch in late January, when the collection had an opening price of 0.70 ETH, with the highest selling recorded on March 11 being 1.64 ETH.
The next week the price dropped to 0.55 ETH. According to CoinMarketCap, Ethereum was trading at $2,664.56 per coin at the time.
The “Never Fear Truth” collection of generative art on OpenSea is molded on Ethereum, featuring artwork by Depp. the project was verified as authentic Last month by MakersPlace. The collection features images from “Friends and Heroes” from Depp’s past, including Heath Ledger, Tim Burton, River Phoenix, Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino, and Hunter S. Thompson.
Depp himself in 607 pieces.
“In this first public display of Johnny’s art, he has focused on the people he knows well, and who have inspired him as a person,” the description reads. “Each image is an intimate reflection of his character in Johnny’s eyes; a depiction of how he has revealed himself to him.”
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographically unique tokens linked to digital (and sometimes physical) content, providing proof of ownership. According to the OpenC listing, each “Never Fear Truth” NFT will serve as a subscription to a creative community and future releases by Depp.
Depp is not the first controversial figure to enter the NFT market. In December, rapper-turned-actor Ice-T launched the NFT collection with Niftify. Ice-T’s 1992 album “Body Count” was nationally controversial for the protest song “Cop Killer”, written from the point of view of a character fed up with police brutality.
NFTs themselves are controversial, with gamers and artists pushing back against what they see as a cash grab or, worse, a scam, not to mention the environmental impact of NFTs mined on proof of work blockchains like Ethereum. Proof of Stake algorithm that is in the process of transfer.
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